Automatic boiler cleaner



July 16, 1935. A. A. STUTSMAN AUTOMATIC BOILER CLEANER Filed Sept. 22, 1935 AZraam J. Jzazsm Patented July 1 6, 1935 PATENT OFFICE AUTOMATIC BOILER CLEANER" 7 Abraham A. Stutsmam-San Jose, Calif. Application 22', 1933, serial No; 690,617

are carried into and which formi within the boiler.

3 Another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaner of this type which not' oniy colle'ots the foreignsubstances in the holler water but which also admits of the removing of the accumulations by blowing offs'o' that the solid and other foreign matter may be removed from time totiineaccording' to thefate of accumulation. h The invention also aims to provide a device of this character which does not iequire any" inodifi cation or change in the boiler structuiebut which inay be quickly and easily installed theiein'and which has no moving parts and which effects separation of the solids from the boiler water by preoipitation and also by settling. v r A still further object of the invention is to p'io vide a boiler cleaner having a feed water section adapted to receive and heat the incoming water to causeprecipitation of the solids the feed \i'vater so that the feed waterwill' have pfecipitated hem it the Solids before the feed watef enteis the boiler water; The invention also has for an object to provide a cleaner of this type with e; ettling section adapted to be located inthe boiler at a point to receive circulation therethroii'gh of the water at its most turbulent point in'the'boilr so as to entrap" the soale'afid' sludge fidm' the greatest point "of vantage;

With the ioiegoing and othei objects in view,

the invention Will be iiiofefully desci'ibd heijeinafter; and will be more paftib ulaily pdihted out in the claims appended heret p p 7 In the" drawing, Wheiifi' like Symbols refer to like orcorrespondingparts'throuhout the several views, I Figure 1' is a side elevation paftlybioken away 'Of One t'yii'eof boiler shliwi figlthe present inven- Qtio'n applied thereto. 7

Figure 2 is a transverse 58651011 take II thlOiiQh the s ine substantially en the line '2 2 or Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a top men viewer t e boiler" cleaner, 7

a steam pipe of the boilei' being shown felatio'n thereto, and f V f Figure 4 is a iregmehte ry emerged tiaiisi'ise section taken thioiighth bo'ilel" with the lea liei thefein on substantially theline 4'--4 of Figure 1. Referring now to the drawing; H1 designatsia ,boiler of. conventional tyise aiid which they be fbrovidedinteiniediate itsfends with as'tal'ii dome i I 'i'roiiiwhich leads'in the usual hianneie; steam pipe ['2', the sameextending" forwardly within the top or the boiler m. T e rear p'oiti'on of the belief houses afire' l3 defined at its top by a sheet I5. A feed watei pipe i6 is disposed at the rot-w re end of the hoilef lo aiid'is adapted to 's ppiy water tethe' beiier in the usual manner. The cleaner of the present invention mbodies a forward seetieii and a rear seetieii. The forward section coinpii'ses one oi more troughs l1 open at its top and which is' toiinded or otherwise eohverg'ed at its bottom; The foiward end of the iiibugfi'is provided near its up er edge with a feed watei rec'eiving DarilB relatively shallow and into which epehs the down-turned end or the feed watef pipe f6 as shown in Figure 1. The pen l8 is piefef'abl'y of the Width of the trough i1 and opens into the upper edge portion thereof so as to spread the feed water over a. relatively large surface area in' the trough and to break thejet or stream action" of the water as it is forced into the boiler.

- The; trough I! is suspended in the up er poition of the boiler I'll so that a substantial upper ortion; of the tfoughis above the water level 19 in the boiler"; The feed Watei hows gradually from the forward to the rear end of the trough ii and spin ever the reareh i oi the trough into the body of boilei water. Pr'ef'e'iably the rear wen 20 of the trough I1 is slightly shorter than the" adjacent walls so as to confine the'rearwardly flowing feed water in the trough throughout the length of the latter andto adn'iit of the spilling 'ovei of the w ter fi'oin the rear end of the troug only. To offset the undue disturbance of splashing of the water traveling lengthwise in the tiough' H, the trough niay he provided with one 01" more transverse baflle plates 2! which extend downwardly fioni the upper edge of the tio'u'gh a" suitable distance and which are prefeiably perfoiated so as not to impede to any appfeeiable extent the continuous and undisturbed' new or the feed water through the trough. This will prevehtthe splashing of the feed water perticuienywhen the boilei I0 is of the locomotive type and the latter is subjected to quick startin (if stepping. I

For the purpose of cleaning" out the accumulated sludge from the bottom of the trough incident to precipitation from the incoming feed water, one to the sudden subjection of the water te the eietiveiy' high temperatu e in the top of fidile'fand is" under" oiitlbl of a Silitable'bloW-off valve 23. This pipe 22 is provided with a branch pipe 24 which extends lengthwise through the trough ll adjacent the bottom thereof and which is provided with a suitable number of openings or perforations 25 facing downwardly toward the bottom of the trough 11 so that when the valve 23 is open the accumulated sludge in the trough will be drawn and discharged through the blowoif pipe 22.

The one or more troughs I! of the front section may be supported in the boiler in any suitable manner and in the present instance the trough i1 is shown as being suspended in a suitable number of longitudinally spaced apart hanger straps 26 and these straps 26 are preferablyar ranged in pairs at the outer and inner sides of the trough ll, as shown in Figure 4, so as to notonly support the Weight of the trough but to hold the latter from rising when the buoyancy of the surrounding boiler water takes eifect, caused by the blowing out of the water from the trough. These hanger straps 26 may be secured to the top of the boiler H) as shown, or any other suitable means may be resorted to for effecting the suspension of the troughll.

The rear section of the boiler cleaner comprises one or more troughs 21 which may be'relatively short and which are located to extend rearwardly from beneath the dome l I and terminate near the juncture of the crown and flue sheets 14 and I5, as shown in Figure 1. Each trough 2'! is preferably rounded or converged at its bottom and is provided with perforated opposite end walls 28 so that the boiler water may circulate lengthwise through the troughs 21 from end to end thereof. The troughs 21 are preferably located in a plane slightly below that of the front section trough I! so that one or more troughs 21 may lie well within the water circuit to receive the sludge and other accumulations which may be carried in the water and which accumulate to the greatest extent adjacent the crown sheet. The perforations in the end walls 28 are of a sufficient size to admit the sludge or solid matter in the Water so that this solid matter may settle in the quiescent zone of the members 21.

The troughs 21 are suspended in hangers 29 of any suitable type which may be secured to the inner side of the boiler I0, or any other suitable suspension means may be resorted to. Each trough 2'! is provided adjacent its bottom with a longitudinally extending branch pipe 30 having perforations 3| in its lower side and which opens into a header 32 extending across the forward ends of the troughs 21. The header 32 is con nected by a rearwardly closing check valve 33 with a blow-off pipe 22 at a point inwardly of the front branch pipe 24 so that the water from the front trough ll cannot flow backwardly through the branch pipe 24 into the header 32 or rear trough branch pipes 3|. Of course, the blow-off pipe 22 is shown in the present instance as comprising a single unit with a single valve 23 therein, but it is understood that any other suitable flow-off structure may be resorted to if desired.

It will be noted that the perforated opposite end walls 28 of the rear troughs 21 have their perforations extending downwardly but approximately one-half the depth of the end walls so as to maintain a quiescent zone in the bottom of each trough 21 for collecting the sludge and other solids from the water and entrapping the same.

The operation of the forward trough section of the pipe has been above explained, and the boiler water circulating about the fire box rises across the crown sheet I4 and, when the steam outlet is open there is naturally a strong current of the water and steam flowing from the forward end of the crown sheet I4 to the point of exit of the steam.

The rear section 21 is therefore located in the path of this particular stream so as to be immersed in the boiler water at the point of greatest turbulence and at which point the sludge, scale or other accumulations are naturally carried. The one or more troughs 21 thus lie in the path of circulation of this turbulent boiler water and entrap in a quiet zone, in the bottom of the trough 21, the circulating water so that the sludge and other accumulations may settle to the bottom of the trough 21 and be subsequently blown off through the branch pipes 3|, header 32 and the blow-off pipe 22. This device therefore ofisets all foaming and priming of the boiler so that the boiler water will not be carried off through the steam exit. 7

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims What is claimed is:--

1. In combination with a boiler having a crown sheet and a steam outlet spaced from the crown sheet, a boiler water cleaner and blow out means comprising a trough havingperforate ends and disposed between the inner end of the crown sheet and the outlet, the ends of the trough being perforate adjacent the upper portion thereof whereby water may continuously flow through the trough and being imperforate adjacent the lower portion thereof to form a sediment trap, means for supporting said trough between the crown sheet and the outlet in a position at substantitally the normal level of the water and at a point rela-- tive to the crown sheet whereby the forwardly moving and crown sheet agitated water will pass through said perforate ends, a pipe disposed adjacent the bottom of the trough and having downwardly facing openings, and an outlet pipe connected to said first pipe.

2. In combination with a boiler having a crown sheet and a steam outlet spaced from the crown sheet, a combined cleaning means and blow out means, said cleaning and blow out means comprising a boiler water cleaning means and a fresh water cleaning means, and blow out means connected to said boiler water cleaning means and said fresh water cleaning means, said boiler Water cleaning means comprising a trough disposed between the inner end of the crown sheet and said outlet and provided with perforate ends to permit the free passage of water through the trough at the level of the water, the ends of the trough being perforate adjacent the upper portion thereof whereby water may continuously flow through the trough and being imperfo'rate adjacent the lower portion thereof to form a sediment trap, means for supporting said trough at the normal level of the water and between the crown sheet and the outlet, a blow out header disposed between said boiler water cleaning means and 'said fresh' water cleaning means, and a perforate pipe'section in each of said cleaning means and connected to said header.

3. In combination with a boiler'having a crown sheet and a steam outlet spaced from the crown sheet, a boiler water cleaner and blow out means comprising a trough having ends perforated for a portion of the distance thereof downwardly from the top whereby to permit water to freely pass through the upper portion of the trough, means for supporting said trough between the inner end of the crown sheet and the outlet in a position at substantially the normal level of the water whereby the water agitated by the crown sheet 10 and moving forwardly therefrom will pass through the perforations of said ends, the ends of the trough being perforate adjacent the upper portion thereof whereby water may continuously flow through the trough and being imperforate adjacent the lower portion thereof to form a sediment trap, a pipe disposed in trough below the perforations of the ends and having downwardly facing openings, and an outlet pipe connected to said first pipe.

ABRAHAM A. STUTSMAN. 

